• Threads of Time: Recollections

    01
    Director Peter Brook reveals the myriad sources driving his lifelong passion for finding the most expressive way to tell a story. Over the years we watch his metamorphosis from traditionalist to radical innovator, witnessing his expanding field of vision and sense of dramatic possibility.

    For fifty years, Peter Brook’s opera, stage, and film productions have held audiences spellbound. His visionary directing has created some of the most influential productions in contemporary theater. Now at the pinnacle of his career, Brook has given us his memoir, a luminous, inspiring work in which he reflects on his artistic fortunes, his idols and teachers, his philosophical path and personal journey. In this autobiography, the man The New York Times has called “the English-speaking world’s most eminent director” and The London Times has named “theater’s living legend” reveals the myriad sources behind his lifelong passion to find the most expressive way of telling a story. Whether in India’s epic “Mahabharata” or a stage adaptation of Oliver Sak’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, South Africa’s “Woza Albert” or “The Cherry Orchard,” Brook’s unique blend of practicality and vision creates unforgettable experiences for audiences worldwide.

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    £11.40
  • The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth Edition

    07

    With well over 6,300 articles, including over 500 new entries, this fourth edition of The Encyclopedia of British Film is a fully updated invaluable reference guide to the British film industry. It is the most authoritative volume yet, stretching from the inception of the industry to the present day, with detailed listings of the producers, directors, actors and studios behind a century or so of great British cinema.

    Brian McFarlane’s meticulously researched guide is the definitive companion for anyone interested in the world of film. Previous editions have sold many thousands of copies and this fourth edition will be an essential work of reference for enthusiasts interested in the history of British cinema, and for universities and libraries.

    — .

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    £87.70
  • David Lean

    08

    In the course of his career, David Lean created some of the most unforgettable images in cinema history: the terrifying opening graveyard sequence in Great Expectations, the poignant railway farewell in Brief Encounter, the shimmering desert of Lawrence of Arabia and the frozen expanses of revolutionary Russia in Dr Zhivago.

    Film-maker and historian Kevin Brownlow spent many hours with Lean, who talked openly about a career which lasted over 50 years. Furthermore, Lean’s family and friends – from the son from whom he was estranged, to the women who loved him – talk frankly about his complex personality: a man who was charming, self-deprecating, autocratic and ruthless, and yet surprisingly generous. Brownlow’s definitive biography of Lean leaves the reader with an understanding of the man and an appreciation of his cinematic achievement.

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    £4.90

    David Lean

    £4.90
  • Early British Animation: From Page and Stage to Cinema Screens

    This book is the first history of British animated cartoons, from the earliest period of cinema in the 1890s up to the late 1920s. In this period cartoonists and performers from earlier traditions of print and stage entertainment came to film to expand their artistic practice, bringing with them a range of techniques and ideas that shaped the development of British animation. These were commercial rather than avant-garde artists, but they nevertheless saw the new medium of cinema as offering the potential to engage with modern concerns of the early 20th century, be it the political and human turmoil of the First World War or new freedoms of the 1920s. Cook’s examination and reassessment of these films and their histories reveals their close attention and play with the way audiences saw the world. As such, this book offers new insight into the changing understanding of vision at that time as Britain’s place in the world was reshaped in the early 20th century.

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    £85.40£95.00
  • Just Williams: An Autobiography

    08
    Just Williams: An Autobiography

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    £3.20
  • Emeric Pressburger: Life and Death of a Screenwriter: The Life and Death of a Screenwriter

    02

    A Hungarian Jew who lived and worked in half a dozen European countries before arriving in Britain in 1935, Pressburger’s reputation rests on the series of strikingly original films he made in collaboration with Michael Powell under the banner of The Archers. The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp all bear the unique credit ‘Written, Produced and Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’.

    Frequently controversial, always experimental, The Archers suffered a long period of neglect before being rediscovered by such prominent admirers as Martin Scorsese, Derek Jarman and Francis Ford Coppola.

    Written by his grandson, and containing extracts from private diaries and correspondence, this biography defends the notion of film as a collaborative art and illuminates the adventurous life and work of the film-maker who brought continental grace, with and style to British cinema.

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    £17.10£19.00
  • All of Me: My Extraordinary Life – The Most Recent Autobiography by Barbara Windsor

    08

    THE HEART-WARMING AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY BARBARA WINDSOR CHRONICLING HER EARLY CHILDHOOD IN LONDON’S EAST END TO RECEIVING A DBE IN 2000

    ‘A whopping, no-holds-barred rollercoaster of a book’ Mail on Sunday

    `Barbara Windsor emerges from these pages as a personality both strong and sunny’ Sunday Telegraph

    Born in the East End of London just before the war, Barbara Windsor made her first stage appearance at the age of 13. From her early roles as the original Carry On dolly bird to her longest role as Peggy Mitchell in the award-winning BBC drama EastEnders, her spectacular success in theatre, film and TV has made her a British icon – the Cockney kid with a dazzling smile and talent to match.

    Here, for the first time, she talks in depth about the people and events that have shaped her career: her lonely childhood, her doomed marriage to Ronnie Knight, her legendary affairs, how she never let her fans down whatever her personal anguish. This is the heart-warming story of a courageous woman and consummate performer who has always made sure the show goes on.

    ‘By living up to its title alone it makes a nonsense of every other showbiz bleat ‘n’ brag ever put to paper’ Julie Burchill

    ‘Infinitely more interesting than the sentimental schmaltz we have read about her before’ Lynn Barber, Daily Telegraph

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    £2.80
  • Strolling Player: The Life and Career of Albert Finney

    08

    ‘Hershman has managed to gather a huge amount of information and distill it into a book that is not only respectful but full of insights into what makes this unstarriest of stars able to produce brilliant work without appearing to break a sweat.’ – Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday

    He was a Salford-born, homework-hating bookie’s son who broke the social barriers of British film. He did his share of roistering, and yet outlived his contemporaries and dodged typecasting to become a five-time Oscar nominee and one of our most durable international stars. Bon vivant, perennial rebel, self-effacing character actor, charismatic charmer, mentor to a generation of working-class artists, a byword for professionalism, lover of horseflesh and female flesh – Albert Finney is all these things and more.

    Gabriel Hershman’s colourful and riveting account of Finney’s life and work, which draws on interviews with many of his directors and co-stars, examines how one of Britain’s greatest actors built a glittering career without sacrificing his integrity.

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    £12.70£19.00
  • Completely Foxed

    This is the sequel to the author’s successful memoir “Slightly Foxed” and takes her story on from 1971, when her husband died. She writes of her loneliness as well as happier times doing charity work. Many famous artists are mentioned, including her sons Edward, James and Robert.

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    £3.40
  • CARRY ON COMPANION REVISED ED

    08
    An unashamedly affectionate look at the world of Britain’s best-loved comedy team; a detailed journey through each of the 31 “Carry On” feature films. This resource features full cast lists, production facts and figures, and many illustrations.

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    £8.90
  • Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street

    08
    A walk down the cobbles with one of Coronation Street’s best loved characters. From her first appearance in 1972, Deirdre Barlow (nee Hunt) went on to become one of the street’s most iconic stars and been at the centre of some of its most explosive storylines; including her affair with Mike Baldwin, her imprisonment for fraud which prompted the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to raise her case in the Commons and her relationship with daughter Tracy, a woman who has literally gotten away with murder.
    Deirdre: A Life on the Street is a tribute to one of the most recognised and loved characters on television. Looking back at her three husbands, four weddings and countless pairs of specs, it features exclusive photographs as well as a look at Deirdre’s four decades on Britain’s most famous street. It’s packed full of quotes including many from Deirdre’s acid tongued mother Blanche, reminisces and a look at some of Deirdre’s most memorable moments.

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    £0.60
  • A History of Artists’ Film and Video in Britain

    03
    In recent years the use of film and video by British artists has come to widespread public attention. Jeremy Deller, Douglas Gordon, Steve McQueen and Gillian Wearing all won the Turner Prize (in 2004, 1996, 1999 and 1997 respectively) for work made on video. This fin-de-siecle explosion of activity represents the culmination of a long history of work by less well-known artists and experimental film-makers. Ever since the invention of film in the 1890s, artists have been attracted to the possibilities of working with moving images, whether in pursuit of visual poetry, the exploration of the art form’s technical challenges, the hope of political impact, or the desire to re-invigorate such time-honoured subjects as portraiture and landscape. Their work represents an alternative history to that of commercial cinema in Britain – a tradition that has been only intermittently written about until now. This major new book is the first comprehensive history of artists’ film and video in Britain. Structured in two parts (‘Institutions’ and ‘Artists and Movements’), it considers the work of some 300 artists, including Kenneth Macpherson, Basil Wright, Len Lye, Humphrey Jennings, Margaret Tait, Jeff Keen, Carolee Schneemann, Yoko Ono, Malcolm Le Grice, Peter Gidal, William Raban, Chris Welsby, David Hall, Tamara Krikorian, Sally Potter, Guy Sherwin, Lis Rhodes, Derek Jarman, David Larcher, Steve Dwoskin, James Scott, Peter Wollen and Laura Mulvey, Peter Greenaway, Patrick Keiller, John Smith, Andrew Stones, Jaki Irvine, Tracy Emin, Dryden Goodwin, and Stephanie Smith and Ed Stewart. Written by the leading authority in the field, A History of Artists’ Film and Video in Britain, 1897-2004 brings to light the range and diversity of British artists’ work in these mediums as well as the artist-run organisations that have supported the art-form’s development. In so doing it greatly enlarges the scope of any understanding of ‘British cinema’ and demonstrates the crucial importance of the moving image to British art history.

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    £33.20
  • Don’t Laugh at Me: An Autobiography By Norman Wisdom

    08
    Norman Wisdom was born in poverty in the East End. By the age of 12 he was a homeless tramp who had to beg and steal to eat. Eventually he joined the Army where he became a boxing champion and also discovered his true vocation as an entertainer. On leaving the Army he blew his savings on a trip to Hollywood where he bluffed his way in to see Charlie Chaplin, who predicted that Norman Wisdom would be the man to take his mantle. This little man in a tight suit and cloth cap was to make over 40 films and became Britain’s most successful comedian of the 1950s and early 1960s. His stories from this time revolve around film greats including Laurel and Hardy, Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson and John Wayne. His song, “Don’t Laugh At Me”, was in the top ten for nine months, hinting at a sadness behind all the success, and his wife Freda was to leave him when, as he says, she found someone tall and good-looking. Now Norman’s film career is reviving with the release of a new film called “Double X”.

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    £3.20
  • Subterranean Cities: The World beneath Paris and London, 1800–1945

    02

    The underground has been a dominant image of modern life since the late eighteenth century. A site of crisis, fascination, and hidden truth, the underground is a space at once more immediate and more threatening than the ordinary world above. In Subterranean Cities, David L. Pike explores the representation of underground space in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period during which technology and heavy industry transformed urban life.The metropolis had long been considered a moral underworld of iniquity and dissolution. As the complex drainage systems, underground railways, utility tunnels, and storage vaults of the modern cityscape superseded the countryside of caverns and mines as the principal location of actual subterranean spaces, ancient and modern converged in a mythic space that was nevertheless rooted in the everyday life of the contemporary city. Writers and artists from Felix Nadar and Charles Baudelaire to Charles Dickens and Alice Meynell, Gustave Doré and Victor Hugo, George Gissing and Emile Zola, and Jules Verne and H. G. Wells integrated images of the urban underworld into their portrayals of the anatomy of modern society. Illustrated with photographs, movie stills, prints, engravings, paintings, cartoons, maps, and drawings of actual and imagined urban spaces, Subterranean Cities documents the emergence of a novel space in the subterranean obsessions and anxieties within nineteenth-century urban culture. Chapters on the subways, sewers, and cemeteries of Paris and London provide a detailed analysis of these competing centers of urban modernity. A concluding chapter considers the enduring influence of these spaces on urban culture at the turn of the twenty-first century.

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    £29.50
  • British Film Studios: 763 (Shire Library)

    08

    A beautifully illustrated introduction to the history of British film-making and the leading studios, such as Ealing, Pinewood, Shepperton and Elstree.

    The British film industry was already well established when Hollywood sprang to life in 1911, and has remained at the forefront of film-making ever since; from Cecil Hepworth and Alfred Hitchcock to Ridley Scott and Christopher Nolan, and all the innumerable artistic and technical titans in between, the UK has never been far from the cinematic vanguard. Originally flat theatrical sets on temporary stages (often in gardens!), early British studios could be found everywhere from Glasgow to Brighton, and by the 1920s elaborately lit indoor production stages had developed. Stiff competition from the ‘big five’ US studios led to seismic upheavals over the coming decades, yet names like Alexander Korda, Carol Reed, David Lean and Richard Attenborough attest to Britain’s enduring stature. From quintessentially British studios and productions – Gainsborough romances, Ealing comedies, Hammer horrors and many more – to the British role in blockbusting franchises like James Bond, Star Wars and Harry Potter, Kiri Bloom Walden here tells the century-long story of British film, illustrating it with colourful photographs of actors, directors and production staff at work.

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    £7.60£9.50
  • The Coiled Serpent: ‘So inventive that it makes other writing seem uncourageous’

    03

    A little girl throws up Gloria-Jean’s teeth after an explosion at the custard factory; Pax, Alexander, and Angelo are hypnotically enthralled by a book that promises them enlightenment if they keep their semen inside their bodies; Victoria is sent to a cursed hotel for ailing girls when her period mysteriously stops. In a damp, putrid spa, the exploitative drudgery of work sparks revolt; in a Margate museum, the new Director curates a venomous garden for public consumption.

    In Grudova’s unforgettably surreal style, these stories expose the absurdities behind contemporary ideas of
    work, Britishness and art-making, to conjure a singular, startling strangeness that proves the deft skill of a writer
    at the top of her game.

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    £11.80£14.20
  • Hollywood: The Oral History

    05

    Hollywood: The Oral History covers the history of Hollywood from the Silent era up to the 21st century.

    What makes this book unique from any other survey of Hollywood’s history is that it is the history of an art form through the words of those people who created it – from Harold Lloyd to Katharine Hepburn to Warren Beatty to Jane Fonda and beyond, including directors, writers, producers, editors, designers of sets and costumes.
    As such, the authenticity of the text is irrefutable.
    The material in the book – gathered over the decades by the American Film Institute – has never been published before, has never been heard before.

    It is comprehensive – a monument that will never age nor be surpassed.

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    £15.10£23.80
  • Warner Bros.: 100 Years of Storytelling

    02

    In this official centennial history of the greatest studio in Hollywood, unforgettable stars, untold stories, and rare images from the Warner Bros. vault bring a century of entertainment to vivid life.

    The history of Warner Bros. is not just the tale of a legendary film studio and its stars, but of classic Hollywood itself, as well as a portrait of America in the last century. It’s a family story of Polish-Jewish immigrants-the brothers Warner-who took advantage of new opportunities in the burgeoning film industry at a time when four mavericks could invent ways of operating, of warding off government regulation, and of keeping audiences coming back for more during some of the nation’s darkest days.
    Innovation was key to their early success. Four years after its founding, the studio revolutionized moviemaking by introducing sound in The Jazz Singer (1927). Stars and stories gave Warner Bros. its distinct identity as the studio where tough guys like Humphrey Bogart and strong women like Bette Davis kept people on the edge of their seats. Over the years, these acclaimed actors and countless others made magic on WB’s soundstages and were responsible for such diverse classics as Casablanca, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Star Is Born, Bonnie & Clyde, Malcolm X, Caddyshack, Purple Rain, and hundreds more.

    It’s the studio that put noir in film with The Maltese Falcon and other classics of the genre, where the iconic Looney Tunes were unleashed on animation, and the studio that took an unpopular stance at the start of World War II by producing anti-Nazi films. Counter-culture hits like A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist carried the studio through the 1970s and ’80s. Franchise phenomena like Harry Potter, the DC universe, and more continue to shape a cinematic vision and longevity that is unparalleled in the annals of film history. These stories and more are chronicled in this comprehensive and stunning volume.

    Copyright © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

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    £28.30£33.30
  • Love Carries On: A page-turning historical saga set in WWII Edinburgh

    The war threatens all she holds dear…

    Jessica Raeburn lives with her family in a small flat in Edinburgh and works as a department store cashier. She finds herself bored, distracted and dreaming of a more exciting life. One filled with glamour and glitz and excitement. One like she sees in the movies. So when she is hired to work in the box office at the Princes Street cinema, she is thrilled – to be so close to the films and stars she loves is a dream come true.

    She is star-struck by the silver screen, but also by the handsome projectionist, Ben Daniel. However, it is Ben’s assistant, Rusty MacVail, whom she marries.

    As the Second World War looms, her beloved cinema is threatened, Ben comes back into her life, and Rusty goes off to war. Jess will need all her courage to face the challenges – and choices – that lie ahead…

    A compelling romantic saga perfect for fans of Michelle Rawlins and.

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    £0.90
  • 1971: 100 Films from Cinema’s Greatest Year

    1971 was a great year for cinema. Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Dario Argento, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Sergio Leone, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, Nicolas Roeg and Steven Spielberg, among many others, were behind the camera, while the stars were also out in force. Warren Beatty, Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, Julie Christie, Sean Connery, Faye Dunaway, Clint Eastwood, Jane Fonda, Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and Vanessa Redgrave all featured in films released in 1971.

    The remarkable artistic flowering that came from the ‘New Hollywood’ of the ’70s was just beginning, while the old guard was fading away and the new guard was taking over. With a decline in box office attendances by the end of the ’60s, along with a genuine inability to come up with a reliable barometer of box office success, studio heads gave unprecedented freedom to young filmmakers to lead the way.

    Featuring interviews with cast and crew members, bestselling author Robert Sellers explores this landmark year in Hollywood and in Britain, when this new age was at its freshest, and where the transfer of power was felt most exhilaratingly.

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    £16.40£19.00
  • The Film Encyclopedia 7th Edition: The Complete Guide to Film and the Film Industry

    08
    “The best movie reference book, hands down” (Newsweek) is now available in a deftly revised and meticulously updated seventh edition. Ephraim Katz’s celebrated and comprehensive cinema Bible, The Film Encyclopedia, has been lovingly expanded to include new, thorough coverage of independent films, the artistic and technical aspects of filmmaking, and the trends that lie close to the heart of today’s movie buff. Cinephiles will delight in new entries ranging from Sophia Coppola and Wes Anderson to The Lord of the Rings and Captain America. Built upon a foundation which inspired Katherine Hepburn to comment, “Wow! What a book!,” The Film Encyclopedia 7e is an indispensable addition to any movie fan’s home library.

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    £19.00£23.80
  • Rocliffe Notes: A Guide to Low Budget Filmmaking

    02

    The second book in the Rocliffe Notes series, A Guide to Low-Budget Filmmaking is a practical, step-by-step guide to getting your film made, taking it all the way from a script to the screen. It covers every aspect of the process, including: budgeting and finance; casting, crewing and scheduling; shooting and post-production; and marketing and festival strategy. It also incorporates unique insights and insider confidences from peers and established industry players – from directors, writers and producers, through to sales and marketing consultants and distributors. Contributors include: Sean Baker, Saul Dibb, Destiny Ekaragha, Camille Gatin, Sarah Gavron, Shirley Henderson, John Madden, Maxine Peake and Asif Kapadia.

    A revelation for all would-be filmmakers, it’s the essential guide to the nuts-and-bolts of making a film, and a must-have for anyone thinking of making a film on one of the low-budget Microwave, iFeatures or Catalyst schemes, whose recent critical and box-office successes include Lady Macbeth, God’s Own Country and The Levelling.

    ‘A really useful guide to getting on in the world of film’ – Richard Eyre, Writer & Director

    ‘This is the book I wish I had when I was started out working in the movies. Would that it had existed a few decades ago. It’s detailed, optimistic and full of practical and useful information’ – John Malkovich, Actor, Writer & Producer

    ‘An insightful and crystal clear read for anyone wanting to produce their first film be it a short or a feature’ – Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, Producer

    Look out for the other book in the series: Rocliffe Notes – A Professional Approach for Screenwriters and Writer-Directors.

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    £15.70£18.00
  • Peter Pan (Illustrated): The 1911 Classic Edition with Original Illustrations

    08

    Discover J. M. Barrie’s original edition from 1911, featuring 13 high-quality illustrations and a fun quiz about the story of Peter Pan.

    Originally published in 1911 as Peter and Wendy, this classic children’s novel follows the adventures of a mischievous young boy named Peter Pan. Refusing to grow up, Peter lives in the magical world of Neverland with pirates, fairies, and mermaids. With the help of the Lost Boys and the Darling children, Peter bravely battles the evil Captain Hook and his pirate crew in an endless chase around the magical island. This timeless tale of imagination, adventure, and friendship has captured the hearts of generations and remains a beloved classic to this day. The imaginative and enchanted world of Peter Pan calls readers of all ages on an unforgettable adventure that will teach them how to embrace their inner child and never stop dreaming.

    This beautiful edition includes:

    • 13 original, first-edition, high-quality illustrations by the legendary artist F. D. Bedford.
    • A fun quiz about the story and characters of Peter Pan to complete at the end of the book.
    • A beautifully designed cover to adorn your collection.
    • Easy-to-read typesetting for the perfect reading experience for both children and adults.

    Peter Pan, one of the best classic novels for young boys and girls of all time, is the perfect gift for young book lovers that will become an unmissable part of your collection!

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    £6.60
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The First Novel By Quentin Tarantino (A Phoenix paperback, 3691)

    04

    Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited first work of fiction – at once hilarious, delicious, and brutal – is the always surprising, sometimes shocking new novel based on his Academy Award-winning film.

    RICK DALTON – Once he had his own TV series, but now Rick’s a washed-up villain-of-the week drowning his sorrows in whiskey sours. Will a phone call from Rome save his fate or seal it?

    CLIFF BOOTH – Rick’s stunt double, and the most infamous man on any movie set because he’s the only one there who might have gotten away with murder . . .

    SHARON TATE – She left Texas to chase a movie-star dream, and found it. Sharon’s salad days are now spent on Cielo Drive, high in the Hollywood Hills.

    CHARLES MANSON – The ex-con’s got a bunch of zonked-out hippies thinking he’s their spiritual leader, but he’d trade it all to be a rock ‘n’ roll star.

    HOLLYWOOD 1969 – YOU SHOULDA BEEN THERE

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    £6.00£8.50
  • Capitol Days: The Story of Cardiff’s best-loved cinema

    02
    Tells the colourful story of the Capitol Cinema in Cardiff; from its opening in 1921 through its heyday, its painful decline and eventual closure in 1978.
    Featuring many first-hand accounts, the book takes a fond look back at former times, when cinema truly lay at the heart of the community.
    The Capitol, due to its central location and distinctive decor, was more successful than mostm and was often full to capacity both in its early days and right through to performances in the 1960s from Bob Dylan & The Beatles and live screening of Muhammed Ali fights during the same era.
    Contributions from many former employees of the cinema helps bring bring this remarkable venue to life, representing an important part of Cardiff’s social history during the last century.
    Not only a cinema in its lifetime, the ”Cap” was also a popular dancing venue and had a large area known as the Buttery where food and drink could be enjoyed.
    Capitol Days is essential reading for both former visitors to the cinema and venue as a whole, and for those to explore the tale behind the rise and fall of one of Cardiff’s most recognisable venues of entertainment.

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    £4.30
  • Easy Riders, Raging Bulls

    07
    Based on hundreds of interviews with directors such as Coppola, Scorsese, Hopper and Spielberg, as well as producers, stars, studio executives, writers, spouses, ex-spouses, and girlfriends, this is the story of the crazy world that the directors ruled.

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    £11.30£12.30
  • The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine

    05
    Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling are virtually unknown outside of Hollywood and little-remembered even there, but as General Manager and Head of Publicity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, they lorded over all the stars in Hollywood’s golden age from the 1920s through the 1940s–including legends like Garbo, Dietrich, Gable and Garland. When MGM stars found themselves in trouble, it was Eddie and Howard who took care of them–solved their problems, hid their crimes, and kept their secrets. They were “the Fixers.” At a time when image meant everything and the stars were worth millions to the studios that owned them, Mannix and Strickling were the most important men at MGM. Through a complex web of contacts in every arena, from reporters and doctors to corrupt police and district attorneys, they covered up some of the most notorious crimes and scandals in Hollywood history, keeping stars out of jail and, more importantly, their names out of the papers. They handled problems as diverse as the murder of Paul Bern (husband of MGM’s biggest star, Jean Harlow), the studio-directed drug addictions of Judy Garland, the murder of Ted Healy (creator of The Three Stooges) at the hands of Wallace Beery, and arranging for an unmarried Loretta Young to adopt her own child–a child fathered by a married Clark Gable.
    Through exhaustive research and interviews with contemporaries, this is the never-before-told story of Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling. The dual biography describes how a mob-related New Jersey laborer and the quiet son of a grocer became the most powerful men at the biggest studio in the world.

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    £12.40
  • Understanding Audiences and the Film Industry (Understanding the Moving Image)

    Brings together an introduction to academic study of audiences as ‘readers’ of films and an investigation into how the film industry perceives audiences as part of its industrial practices. The appraoch draws on ideas from film, media and cultural studies to present an insight to what makes the biggest box office films attractive to audiences.

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    £33.00
  • The Shepperton Story

    06

    This exhaustive and affectionate history is crammed with information and rare pictures from the famous Shepperton Studios. From assistants to directors, producers, stars, prop men, production managers and studio executives, the author has interviewed over 200 industry people and has painstakingly researched the history of the studio site from its first recorded use in the Doomsday Book through its redevelopment as one of Britain’s first major film studios in 1932. The studio has housed classic movies featuring comedy great Will Hay, to blood-churning horrors starring Todd Slaughter through the studio’s covert use during the Second World War as a camouflage manufacturing plant and on to its reopening with great classics such as The Third Man, The Tales Of Hoffman, Dr Strangelove and I’m All Right Jack, and on to modern greats such as Flash Gordon, Alien, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, The Crying Game, Chaplin, Gladiator, Troy, Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code and The Golden Compass. This is their story.

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    £20.10£23.80

    The Shepperton Story

    £20.10£23.80
  • Bernard Manning: A Biography

    07
    The first biography of one of Britain s most controversial and contradictory comedians.

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    £9.50
  • A Gaudy Spree: The Literary Life of Hollywood in the 1930s When the West Was Fun

    01
    The author recounts his experiences when, in 1930, he traveled to California to be a screenwriter for Irving Thalberg and describes what Hollywood was like during that period

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    £8.50
  • The UK Film Finance Handbook: How to Fund Your Film

    02
    The reader – from beginner making their first short film, through to experienced producer packagin an international multi-million pound co-production – is guided through the entire process of raising finance, in a book packed with interviews, case studies, expert tips and details of more than 200 funds.

    The UK Film Funding Guide 2003/04 was originally published by Shooting People and went on to sell almost 4,000 copies amongst the UKÂ’s guerilla filmmaking scene. This second edition – the UK Film Finance Handbook 2005/06 – from the same authors, is published by Netribution and has been fully revised, updated and expanded.

    • All forms of production finance fully explained – including the new UK 20% tax credit
    • International and co-production incentives for over 20 countries
    • 101 tips and tricks from low-budget filmmakers for more affordable films
    • Directory comprising over 400 film contacts across all sectors
    • Top level interviews including UK Film Council execs, the head of BBC Films and Nik Powell, co-founder of Virgin and one of the UK’s most seasoned producers.

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    £3.30
  • Bollywood: A History

    05
    Hollywood may define our idea of movies, but it is the city of Bombay on the west coast of India that is now the centre of world cinema. Every year, the Indian film industry produces more than 1,000 feature films; every day, 14 million Indians go to a movie in the country; a billion more people a year buy tickets for Indian movies than for Hollywood ones. The rise of Bombay as the film capital of the world has been both remarkable and amazing. Bollywood movies themselves are a self-contained world with their multiple song and dance routines, intense melodrama, and plots that contain everything from farce to tragedy, but always produce a happy ending. The men and women who created these movies are even more remarkable; and it is this fantastic, rich, diverse story, a veritable Indian fairyland, that Mihir Bose, a native of Bombay, tells with vivid brilliance in the first comprehensive history of this major social and cultural phenomenon.

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    £5.30
  • Irish cinema in the twenty-first century

    An accessible, comprehensive overview of contemporary Irish cinema, this book is intended for use as a third-level textbook and is designed to appeal to academics in the areas of film studies and Irish studies. Responding to changes in the Irish production environment, it includes chapters on new Irish genres such as creative documentary, animation and horror. It discusses shifting representations of the countryside and the city, always with a strong concern for gender representations, and looks athow Irish historical events, from the Civil War to the Troubles, and the treatment of the traumatic narrative of clerical sexual abuse have been portrayed in recent films. It covers works by established auteurs such as Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan, as well as new arrivals, including the Academy Award-winning Lenny Abrahamson.

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    £15.30
  • The Complete Film Production Handbook (American Film Market Presents)

    05
    The Complete Film Production Handbook is a comprehensive step-by-step guide covering the essentials of the business, from checklists and sample pre-production and post production schedules to contracts and company policies relating to insurance, talent management, and even customs and immigration details. The book contains all of the many necessary forms including SAG, DGA, and WGA forms, together with standard production forms, deal memos, and release forms which are found both in the book and on companion CD.

    This book provides producers and production managers with both a quick reference and refresher and an easy means of training their production staff on the day to day procedures needed to keep their production running smoothly. It provides film students with an in-depth look at what must be considered and accomplished before a single camera can roll and a more comprehensive understanding of the logistics that are required to complete and deliver a finished picture. First time independent filmmakers will find this the most comprehensive and helpful resource guide available.

    The third edition includes substantial updates throughout. New chapters examine such topics as:

    Basic accounting procedures
    Production team members and their responsibilities
    Working with vendors–negotiating deals. Saving money
    Working with extras
    Foreign locations–Work visas, shipping and customs

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    £10.60
  • Disney A To Z: The Official Encyclopedia, Third Edition

    If you’re curious about The Walt Disney Company, this comprehensive encyclopedia is your one-stop guide! Filled with significant achievements, short biographies, historic dates, and tons of trivia-worthy tidbits and anecdotes, this newly updated collection covers all things Disney-from A to Z-through thousands of entries and more than eight hundred images. The fifth edition will include all the major Disney park attractions, restaurants, and shows; summaries of ABC and Disney Channel television series; run-downs on all Disney and Disney-Pixar films and characters; the latest and greatest from Marvel and Lucas; key actors, songs, and animators from Disney films and shows; and so much more!

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    £5.30
  • Producing Bollywood: Inside the Contemporary Hindi Film Industry

    Producing Bollywood offers an unprecedented look inside the social and professional worlds of the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry and explains how it became “Bollywood,” the global film phenomenon and potent symbol of India as a rising economic powerhouse. In this rich and entertaining ethnography Tejaswini Ganti examines the changes in Hindi film production from the 1990s until 2010, locating them in Hindi filmmakers’ efforts to accrue symbolic capital, social respectability, and professional distinction, and to manage the commercial uncertainties of filmmaking. These efforts have been enabled by the neoliberal restructuring of the Indian state and economy since 1991. This restructuring has dramatically altered the country’s media landscape, which quickly expanded to include satellite television and multiplex theaters. Ganti contends that the Hindi film industry’s metamorphosis into Bollywood would not have been possible without the rise of neoliberal economic ideals in India. By describing dramatic transformations in the Hindi film industry’s production culture, daily practices, and filmmaking ideologies during a decade of tremendous social and economic change in India, Ganti offers valuable new insights into the effects of neoliberalism on cultural production in a postcolonial setting.

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    £21.80
  • Today Programme Puzzle Book: The puzzle book of 2018

    08

    ***The best intelligent puzzle book on the market***

    Fiendish fun! – The Times

    Can YOU solve the Puzzle for Today?

    Tackle the conundrums that have been frustrating and confounding the nation, with the first official book from Radio 4’s Today programme.

    Put your deciphering skills and mental agility to the test with over 280 cryptic, numerical and linguistic brainteasers from Britain’s best-loved radio programme, set by the world’s ultimate puzzle masters.

    So, challenge your grey matter and hone your reasoning and logic skills with the brainteasers that get the nation’s (and many world leaders’) synapses firing every morning at 6.50am.

    With a foreword by Sarah Sands, editor of the Today programme.
    Introductions to each chapter by Tom Feildon, the BBC Science Editor.

    Chapters:
    Never Aired Puzzles
    Common-sense Conundrums
    Flags, Capitals & Nations
    Maths & Language
    Further Maths
    BBC Today Presenters’ Puzzles
    Celebrity Setters
    Christmas Crackers

    Want to take on the hardest, most fiendish puzzles out there created by the greatest minds around the world? If The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book, The GCHQ Puzzle Book and Tim Peake’s Astronaut Selection Test Book were no match for you, pit your wit against TODAY.

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    £4.90£12.30
  • The Egos Have Landed: Rise and Fall of Palace Pictures

    02
    This work provides an insight into the rise and fall of Palace Pictures, one of the movie phenomena of the last decade. It is the story of two mavericks, Steve Woolley and Nick Powell, who through a combination of brash marketing tactics and inspired risk-taking, fought to produce and distribute films during a period when the world had written off the British film industry as dead and buried. Containing stories about Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Bob Hoskins, David Bowie, Miranda Richardson, John Hurt, Neil Jordan, Richard Branson and many other celebrities, it gives the inside story on the company whose films include “Absolute Beginners”, “The Company of Wolves”, “Mona Lisa”, “Scandal” and “The Crying Game”.

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    £3.20
  • The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation and Identity

    01
    Iranian cinema is today widely recognized not merely as a distinctive national cinema, but as one of the most innovative in the world. Established masters like Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf have been joined by newcomers like Samira Makhmalbaf, Majid Majidi, Ja’far Qobadi and Bahman Qobadi, all directors whose films are screened to increasing acclaim in international festivals. This international stature both fascinates Western observers and appears paradoxical in line with perceptions of Iran as anti-modern. The largely Iranian contributors to this book look in depth at how Iranian cinema became a true ‘world cinema’. From a range of perspectives, they explore cinema’s development in post Revolution Iran and its place in Iranian culture.

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    £17.50£18.00

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